The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1887-09-17
BLIGHT AND ROT.
Suggestions Regarding the Preparation OF
seed for the Fall Wheat Crop.

Suggestions Regarding the Preparation OF
Seed for the Fall Wheat Crop.
There is nothing new Under the sun.
All that is new is the application of
old things and processes to new uses.
This is exemplified in the use o: sui
phate of copper for the prevention of
grape rot and of the blight and rot of
potatoes and tomatoes. This remedy
has long been used for the prevention
of rust and smut in wheat, and more
recently to kill the spores Of smut in
seed oats and corn and SO prevent
damage to the crops. If il is true that
s'there is no evil without its remedy"
then we may hope that a remedy has
been found for these most serious
evils. which greatly reduce the farmers
profits
These diseases of plants are anal
ogous to the contagious diseases OF
animals, in that they are produced by
spore or germ which finds access to
the interior of the plant, and then
causes the disoroanization of its tissues
by feeding upon them and growing at
their expense. Moreover, rs the germs
of contagious disease spread abroad
and infect other animals. so these
germs of blight and rust and smut, or
rot are scattered abroad and infest
other plants. And as the atmosphere
is the principal medium by which con-
tagious germs are carried. so the at
mosphere is the principal medium
through which plants are infected,
although the soil is also eontribut-
ing agent to the spread of these dis
eases.
The precise nature of these so-called
blights has not been clearly under
stood, but enough of them has been
learned to know that they are all
caused by fungoid parasitic growth
which takes possession of the plant,
and fills its cellular tissue with its
threads or mycelium upon which is
borne the fruits, and that these appear
as the red rusts or the black smuts that
are so familiar to the farmer. The
florist OF the fruit-grower know them
best in the form of the whitish network
of fibers which appears as mildew, and
which saps the vitality of the plants
and causes them to weaken OF perish.
| The smut destroys the infested plants,
grain being wholly changed into a
mass of brown spores. or the tissue be-
! ing impregnated with them and SO re-
duced to decay or rot
For the prevention of smut in wheat
| it has been common custom for many
| years to steep the seed in solution OF
| four ounces of sulphate of copper in q
gallon of water, in such proportion
that the whole of the solution is alb
sorbed by the grain. Five bushels Of
wheat or of corn or eight bushels OF
oats will absorb this quantity of solu-
ton, and in twenty-four hours will be
dry enough to SOW or plant. This
complete absorption, we believe, is in
dispensable for the destruction of the
germs of the fungus which may exist in
the grain, for there is no doubt that the
| grain itself may be infected by the
parasite internally, as well as by adj
herring spores entangled among the
hairy appendages of the husk. These
adhering spores are readily seen by
means of magnifylng glass upon the
| grains of the seeds mentioned. More
over the saturation of the grain by thu
corrosive copper sulphate acts as +;
safeguard against the entrance of thu
parasite from the soil and there is NJ
| question that the soil is extensively
charged with these germs which hav,
fallen from the smutted crops.
Considering the analogy which
exists between these smuts OF blight
of grain and the potato we have for
few'years past experimental upon seet
oats, corn and potato cuttings witt
the result of finding the sulphat
checks the growth of the smut, and TIN
present season we have half of fielt
of oats quite free from smut, where tn
seed was treated with the solution
viii e the other half has a considerable
| quantity of smutty heads. The solu
ton has also had similar effect upol
corn. but having never been troubled
| with the potato rot III our lana ant
perhaps through extreme care II
avoid diseased seed-there has been NJ
precise result reached with this crop
There has been no rot in the crops
h owever, which, under the circum
stances, is wholly negative evidence.
The reasonable physiological connec
ton between the various parasite
fungi has led to the use of a solution @
sulphate of copper, with other sub
stances mixed, as water of ammonia
lime and flowers of sulphur, rs a rem
edy for the rot of grapes, and also TO
preventing the rot in potatoes and to
matoes The remedy has been Intro
duced here from France, where it ha
been successfully used in the vineyard
and gardens. Although too late 70
use this season, it is in good time 70
next year, and may serve as a timel
suggestion in regard TO the preparatio
of the seed for the fall wheat croT
which should be treated to the COY
per sulphate solution invariably as a
indispensable precaution. - NJ ]